Shareholders ‘extremely concerned’ as South East Water boss dodges mounting questions
Despite two crises that have left thousands without running water, David Hinton is in line for multiple pay awards and bonuses Can David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, stay in his job long enough to bag a £400,000 bonus for turning up to work? With four-and-a-half years to go, one can’t say his chances of landing the retention payment – or “service award” – are good. In fact, it will be surprising if he’s still infuriating the residents of Tunbridge Wells four-and-a-half weeks from now. In the latest episode of this long-running double saga of outages that has left thousands of households in Kent and Sussex without running water for days , Ofwat has opened a first-of-its-kind investigation into whether South East complied with its obligation to provide “high standards of customer service and support”. That comes a day after Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, called for the regulator to review the company’s operating licence . Continue reading...